WHEATEAR 



CHAPTER III 

 BLUE THRUSHES 



' Even as it were a sparrow, that sitteth alone on the 

 housetop." 



SOUTHERN Europe is the home of what the 

 Italians call the Passera Solitaria, the bird that 

 is credited with the honour of being the sparrow 

 of the Psalmist, that sitteth alone upon the house- 

 top, and his Italian name seems to bear this out. 

 Europe is his nesting-home, where, in Italy and Switzer- 

 land more especially, the mountains tower up with the 

 snow glistening on their summits against an azure 



